Posts Tagged ‘Green’
Batzer Construction Builds on Green Credentials with Blue Sky
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
June 15, 2010
MEDFORD, Ore. – Batzer Construction, Inc. worked on some of the first commercial wind energy projects being built in California in the 1980s. Now the company is further burnishing its renewable reputation by becoming a Pacific Power Blue Sky partner.
Batzer Construction, a national leader in installing prefabricated steel buildings, is known as the “business builder” for having built hundreds of commercial construction projects for all types of businesses in Oregon. That means, besides being a builder, Batzer has its own onsite steel fabrication shop in Medford.
“Fabricating custom steel structures uses a lot of energy,” said Russ Batzer, president. “It’s the responsible thing to try and shift our power sources to more renewable sources. Our electricity usage level allows us a big impact on the ways power is produced, much bigger than the typical office building.”
Batzer is purchasing 20 blocks per month through Blue Sky. The Blue Sky purchase has tangible environmental benefits. Over the course of a year, the commitment avoids putting 29,240 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and has the environmental equivalent of not driving nearly 30,000 miles.
Blue Sky provides Pacific Power customers a way to support wind powered generation and other renewable energy sources such as solar, low-emissions biomass and geothermal. Supporting renewable energy through a voluntary program like Blue Sky helps stimulate even more investment in new renewable generation facilities.
“Leading by example as Batzer Construction does is the best possible way to encourage support for renewable energy,” said Pat Egan, Pacific Power vice president of customer and community affairs. “Blue Sky provides an easy, accessible way for customers to make a difference. We also think Blue Sky is good for business, because customers are starting to request or choose to spend their dollars with businesses that are using sustainable practices, and particularly renewable energy, like Blue Sky.”
Batzer is a sustainability leader in other areas as well. The company focuses strongly on recycling materials at construction sites, which are the major consumer of materials in their business. But, back in the office, Batzer is also working at going green by transitioning from paper to digital record keeping wherever possible.
“Like all Oregonians, we recycle paper, plastic, cans, bottles, cardboard and metals,” said Batzer. “Every now and then when traveling to other parts of the country, we realize just how unique the Northwest is for its daily ethics of recycling. We do those things, but so does everyone else, or at least I hope they do,”
Pacific Power customers can keep adding to Blue Sky’s success by greening their own homes and businesses. Buying just one, 100-kilowatt hour block of Blue Sky power costs only $1.95 per month. Blue Sky is recognized nationally as one of the most affordable renewable energy programs. Customers can buy as many blocks as they wish. Large business customers can buy renewable power in bulk at a discount through the Blue Sky QS program.
Enrollment in Blue Sky is optional and customers can increase their participation or withdraw at any time. Customers can sign up for Blue Sky renewable power by calling Pacific Power at 800-769-3717 or by visiting www.pacificpower.net/bluesky.
About Blue Sky
Strong customer support has enabled the Blue Sky program to be instrumental in the creation of more federally recognized Green Power Communities than any other program in the nation. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has ranked Blue Sky fifth or better in the nation for the seventh consecutive year in the number of customers buying renewable power and for renewable power sales volume. The program is Green-e Energy Certified, which means the renewable energy supported meets the rigorous national environmental and consumer-protection standards established by the nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions. For more information on Green-e Energy, visit www.green-e.org/energy. More than 39,000 customers in the Northwest are part of Blue Sky.
About Pacific Power
In 2010, Pacific Power celebrates 100 years serving customers and communities. From our beginnings — serving 7,000 customers in four Northwest communities — Pacific Power now provides electric service to almost 730,000 customers in Oregon, Washington and California. Our goal is to provide our customers with value for their energy dollar, and safe, reliable electricity, for another 100 years. Pacific Power is part of PacifiCorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United States, with 1.7 million customers in six western states. For more information, visit www.pacificpower.net
Photo of the Week!
Friday, April 16th, 2010Well, maybe it’s photo of the month, or photo of the last quarter decade?
We were looking into some older project files and came across superintendent Russ Dodd’s photos from the 1980’s & 1990’s. Spectacular photos of the team constructing wind farms in California and Nevada. The images are in an much loved photo album that has been leafed through many times and they have the scratches and wear that a much loved photo album accumulates. We thought about using photo shop to fix up photo scans, but the wear and tear really helps tell the story. So we didn’t do any retouching and it doesn’t matter, they are gorgeous. Russ Dodd took some mighty fine photos out there in the desert.
What a story of hardwork, lonely miles, months away from home and family, wind, rain, sun, and dust. These photos tell part of the Batzer Construction story and how such a strong team has been forged here. There is nothing quite like working under these type of conditions to test skills of good planning, good humor, problem solving, and teamwork.
White City Elementary School
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009White City Elementary School- 2830 Maple Court, White City, OR 97503
Completed: 2004
Size: 42,000 SF
Services:Competitive Bid General Contracting
Facility Category: School
This new school constructed in 2004 serves as a case study for sustainability and energy efficiency in Oregon.
Some of the measures incorporated into the design included the following:
- The school uses daylighting extensively. Daylighting is the controlled admission of natural light into a space through windows, skylights, or roof monitors.
- Sunshades are installed on the outside of the South side of the building to prevent excessive heat gain.
- The school equipped classrooms with fluorescent lighting fixtures with T-5 lamps and energy efficient ballasts. All lights have occupancy sensors that are estimated to reduce lighting usage by 30 percent.
- Classroom windows are operable allowing for natural ventilation.
- Two central, natural gas-fired boilers heat the hot water for the school. They have thermal efficiencies of 88 percent compared to the code standard efficiency of 80 percent.
- Nearly all of the waste generated during construction was recycled.
- The school has low or no-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paints, varnishes, adhesives etc. that can be harmful to health.
- The plantings are drought resistant species.
- There is a drip irrigation system that can be used sparingly once plants are established.
- Water is stored and pre-cooled in three underground tanks before it goes to the chiller so the chiller
doesn’t have to operate as long or as frequently. - A bioswale and pond system in the hillside behind the school holds and filters rain run-off before it
enters the city storm system. The area is planted with native vegetation and does not require irrigation
or maintenance. The ponds resemble dry lake beds that fill with rain water that is then gradually
released to the storm system. - A bicycle parking area is big enough for 95 percent of children if they ride bikes to school.
- The school “envelope” (floor, walls and ceiling) has excellent insulation. Part of the building is actually built into the hillside.
- Low-flow plumbing fixtures; timed water faucets that turn off automatically.
- Multi-purpose areas. The music room can be used as a community room; the gym and cafeteria have
a stage in between that can be accessed from either side; three special education rooms can be opened
to make one big room when required. The gym, cafeteria, and community room have a separate entrance so they can be opened for evening and weekend events without accessing other parts of the building, which saves on heating & lighting needs.
From the Eagle Rock Case Study (a matching sister school)
Eagle Rock Elementary School
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009Eagle Rock Elementary School- 1280 Barton Road, Eagle Point, OR 97524-4407
Completed: 2004
Size: 42,000 SF
Services: Competitive Bid General Contracting
Facility Category: School
This new school constructed in 2004 serves as a case study for sustainability and energy efficiency in Oregon.
- The school uses daylighting extensively. Daylighting is the controlled admission of natural light into a space through windows, skylights, or roof monitors.
- Sunshades are installed on the outside of the South side of the building to prevent excessive heat gain.
- The school equipped classrooms with fluorescent lighting fixtures with T-5 lamps and energy efficient ballasts. All lights have occupancy sensors that are estimated to reduce lighting usage by 30 percent.
- Classroom windows are operable allowing for natural ventilation.
- Two central, natural gas-fired boilers heat the hot water for the school. They have thermal efficiencies of 88 percent compared to the code standard efficiency of 80 percent.
- Nearly all of the waste generated during construction was recycled.
- The school has low or no-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paints, varnishes, adhesives etc. that can be harmful to health.
- The plantings are drought resistant species.
- There is a drip irrigation system that can be used sparingly once plants are established.
- Water is stored and pre-cooled in three underground tanks before it goes to the chiller so the chiller
doesn’t have to operate as long or as frequently. - A bioswale and pond system in the hillside behind the school holds and filters rain run-off before it
enters the city storm system. The area is planted with native vegetation and does not require irrigation
or maintenance. The ponds resemble dry lake beds that fill with rain water that is then gradually
released to the storm system. - A bicycle parking area is big enough for 95 percent of children if they ride bikes to school.
- The school “envelope” (floor, walls and ceiling) has excellent insulation. Part of the building is actually built into the hillside.
- Low-flow plumbing fixtures; timed water faucets that turn off automatically.
- Multi-purpose areas. The music room can be used as a community room; the gym and cafeteria have
a stage in between that can be accessed from either side; three special education rooms can be opened
to make one big room when required. The gym, cafeteria, and community room have a separate entrance so they can be opened for evening and weekend events without accessing other parts of the building, which saves on heating & lighting needs.
From the Oregon Department of Energy Eagle_Rock Case Study
Going Renewable!
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Batzer Construction Goes Renewable!
As part of our “Going Green” Business Plan, Batzer Construction is now purchasing 10% of our power from renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power.
Through Pacific Power’s Blue Sky program, we’re making a commitment to support cleaner, and more local sources of energy. Since we do a significant amount of steel manufacturing at our shop in Medford, the amount of power we use is larger than many other general contractors that don’t manufacture their own steelwork. This also means that our choice for renewable power, has a bigger impact.
So what is 10% of our power? It’s about 19 kW/month or 229 kW/year that we’re now getting from renewable sources.
How does this make a difference. Well it helps prevent carbon dioxide emissions that would come from electricity that was made at a coal fired electrical plant, or a natural gas electrical plant. By this decision, we’ve managed to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 15 tons. It would take to 1,260 trees to purify the air of 15 tons of carbon dioxide.
Blue Sky has options for homeowners and for Businesses, we encourage you to take a look, and consider the fact that using wind or solar energy is helping keep our energy dollars in Oregon and in the United States.